Snapchat Announces Rewards Program for AR Creators in India, Viral Lens Makers Can Get Up to $7,200

Snapchat announced a new rewards program for Snap AR creators based in India on Tuesday. Called the ‘Lens Creator Rewards', this initiative will reward Indian creators who use the Snap AR platform to create filters and other Augmented Reality (AR) experiences, that are then offered for use to Snapchat's global users. Snapchat has been actively releasing new features and engagement strategies in recent times. The company is, after all, targeting to clock a revenue close to $1.13 billion (roughly Rs. 9,264 crore) in the third quarter of 2023.

Under the programme, an Indian Lens creator could get rewards up to $7,200 (roughly Rs. 6 lakh) every month if their lens emerges as top performing in India, Mexico, and the US. The rewards program is open to new and current Lens Studio community members from nearly 40 countries including India.

Announcing this initiative in India, Snapchat said that it continues to see a “remarkable emergence of AR creators from various parts of the country,”

“Snapchatters love Lenses built by our global AR community of more than 300,000 AR creators, developers, and teams around the world. We're committed to rewarding the value that AR creators bring to the platform through the new Lens Creator Rewards Program,” Joseph Darko, Global Head of AR Developer Relations at Snap Inc, said in an official press release.

Snapchat was launched in September 2011. The app allowed users to share images and text content that would disappear after 24 hours. Later the platform expanded its features to include voice and video calling as well.

In January 2015, the platform launched its Lenses feature, that brought along filters for users to try on. Snapchat now wants to incentivise creators of viral filters with this initiative.

After having debuted this rewards programme in other nations, Snapchat's decision to release it in India does not come as quite the surprise. Back in March, Darko had told Gadgets 360 that Snap's Indian AR creator community grew by 60 percent in 2022. This community is comprised of people who are active users of Lens Studio – Snap's free desktop application designed to help artists, designers, and developers build AR experiences.

Meanwhile, Snapchat's revenue for the quarter ending June 30 was $1.07 billion (roughly Rs. 8,769 crore), beating analyst expectations of $1.05 billion (roughly Rs. 8,608 crore). The app's daily active users also rose 14 percent year-on-year to 397 million in the second quarter.